Peaceful Bullpen Life [EN]: Chapter 83

Evening, and a gloomy rain was falling.

The ‘rain’ I’d grown accustomed to, the one etched in my memory, should definitely be pouring down with a ‘swish,’ or so I thought.

Rat-a-tat-tat—!!

The raindrops were plummeting, creating a sound that made it seem like getting hit by one would be a serious problem.

And even while getting drenched in that downpour, there was a pitcher steadfastly holding his ground on the mound:

“Ah, nice pitching!”

It was Junhyuk.

There had been a strong warning about rain, but for a while after the game started, it was just a threat looming in the sky.

As soon as the second out was made in the bottom of the 4th inning, the raindrops that had been subtly showing their faces began to accelerate even more, starting in the bottom of the 5th inning.

Despite overcoming the chaotic situation on the field, Junhyuk came down after pitching a whopping 6 innings, allowing only 3 runs—a truly commendable performance.

“We should’ve gotten a cold game [a game shortened due to weather conditions].”

“I know, right?”

“Aigo [an expression of weariness], you worked hard.”

The monsoon season in the middle of July.

The sight of it excessively fulfilling the expectation that it would cool down the heat was quite unpleasant.

When it rains, who is more disadvantaged, the pitcher or the batter?

There are many arguments about this.

The pitcher, who requires the ultimate in sensitivity where even a 1mm deviation is unacceptable, is definitely at a disadvantage.

The batter is at a disadvantage because he is obstructed by the ‘rain’ and has to overcome it physically.

No one gave a clear answer. It seems like one thing when you hear this, and then it seems like another when you hear that.

Maybe it’s because I’m a pitcher, but I definitely think I’m at a disadvantage.

Because that way, I can lay down at least one more excuse.

“Hanwool, let’s go up in the 8th.”

“Ugh, okay.”

Honestly, I didn’t really want to.

In my mind, all sorts of complaints and dissatisfaction were piling up like savings, but they were just futile gestures that couldn’t be expressed anyway.

I picked up the glove that had come into contact with the raindrops bouncing off the dugout railing several times.

Ah, I don’t want to apply oil.

The glove, which had been soaked in rainwater and changed from bright red to wine-colored. Inside it, a baseball that had been soaked in rainwater and changed from pure white to ivory.

The landing spot where my left foot had to safely approach was truly a mess.

Even when I tried to fill the ground that was full of moisture and going crazy by scooping up the nearby soil, it returned to its original state.

Chwop!

“Ah… seriously.”

I was hoping, but as expected.

My focus was on my left big toe.

The center of gravity shift that is inseparable from the pitcher, the last bastion to prevent the momentum of constantly moving forward towards the catcher,

Chwaaak—

“Ah, damn it, seriously!”

Was collapsing completely.

I couldn’t help but get annoyed. Thanks to that, the intervals were increasing arbitrarily.

“Seriously, why aren’t they calling a cold game?!”

“I know, right?”

The score difference is only three points at the end of the 7th inning, but…….

Thud-thud-thud-thud-thud!!

Do they not feel anything even after seeing the brutal moisture that seems like it will smash the fence?

“Stra, cough, eek!”

Look at that, even when he’s about to call a cold game, his mouth is blocked by the rain, and he can’t even pronounce it properly.

I was continuing to warm up for now. I’m hoping for a cold game, but it would be a disaster if it doesn’t happen.

I continued to pitch despite the impact of the rain hitting my head.

“Hanwool, let’s go out.”

“Yes, yes.”

Slosh-slosh—

I stepped over the open bullpen door and headed to the mound. The feeling of stepping on the moisture-filled grass with spikes hiding sharp blades is better than I thought.

Thud-thud-thud-thud—

It’s just that the sky, which doesn’t stop aerial bombardment, is awful.

I arrived at the mound. As I rubbed the rosin bag, which was soaked with water, the concentrated pine resin liquid soaked my fingers.

Ah, what a mess.

With a dirty feeling, I slammed it on the ground with a splat and stepped on the plate. The tip of the glove finger pointing towards Juho was caught in the obstacle-filled view.

Fwack!

Juho’s mitt, which had been guarding the ground for longer than I had, absorbed that much rainwater and made a strange noise. My glove, receiving the ball, also made a crazy ‘chok!’ sound.

The next pitch to practice is the slider. I tilted the glove to the left and gripped it diagonally.

I wound up and my left knee came up. Carefully, carefully. Slowly, I headed to where my free foot would land.

Chwaaaak—

The moment my left foot touched the ground, I felt like I was screwed. My left foot, which had arrived at a spot that had been dug up and was as damp as it could be, slid forward as if it had sold off the brake pedal.

“Ugh!”

Thanks to that, I ended up sitting on the ground as it was. Feeling dirty, I touched the ground and rubbed the muddy palm on my uniform pants.

Ting—!

[Underwater Battle]

– Overcome the heavy rain and pitch a scoreless inning. (0/1)

– Reward ― Slider +2

The text was created on the right thigh where the mud from my hand had been transferred, right on the newly contaminated part.

It’s been a while since I’ve had such a terrible quest.

“Why?”

As I was worrying about how to overcome this mess and reapplying rosin, Juho came running out with a surprised look on his face.

“Hyung [older brother/male friend], are you okay?”

“I’m not hurt. I’m okay.”

“What about your hamstring?”

“Well… I think I’m okay.”

The pitching coach and team trainer, who ran out with similar expressions, even appeared.

“Hey, are you okay?!”

“I’m okay, I’m okay. I just slipped a little.”

“Is your groin okay?”

“Yes. I think I can still pitch.”

Finally, even the umpire, who was appearing with frustration, arrived.

“Are you okay?”

“Yes, yes, I’m okay.”

“What about your ankle? You didn’t sprain it, did you?”

“Yes, well…….”

Wow, there are so many places you can get hurt.

“Hey!”

The pitching coach shouted at the source of this mess.

“Aren’t you calling a cold game? It’s raining this hard right now.”

“We want to call a cold game too, but the committee is asking us to proceed if possible. The score difference isn’t that big, and it’s still a one-chance game…….”

“It’s okay, just fill this place with some dirt.”

The umpire, who nodded in agreement, ran towards the side where the ball boys were waiting.

Looking at him talking about something, it seems like he’s going to bring some soil.

“Move your legs a little, see if you’re okay.”

“I said I’m okay.”

Even while saying that, I was turning various parts of my lower body.

Waist, pelvis, ankle.

Just as I was about to confirm that there was nothing wrong, the sand, fully loaded on the cart, arrived.

I used a shovel to fill the plate area and the part where my stepping foot touched, and then stomped on it with my feet to flatten it out before resuming practice pitching.

Fwack!

There was still a strange sound coming from Juho’s mitt, but it seemed like the game itself could proceed.

I took my mind off the officials who were returning with relief and focused on my immediate task.

Due to the continuous occurrence of special situations, I was exceptionally allowed a total of 10 practice pitches.

I stepped on the mound, which was dotted with new dirt, but still full of discomfort,

Play!

The inning started again.

“Ugh, I hate this.”

Even while pouring out complaints from my mouth, I carried out the pitching motion.

My left foot, which stepped behind the plate because of the windup, shuddered slightly at the rising softness because they didn’t supply new dirt separately, but it didn’t have a big impact on the pitch itself.

“Strike—!”

Oh Youngbin’s at-bat, starting with a fastball on the inside.

“Strike, two!”

I created a good count simply by planting a fastball on the inside once again. The sign that came out as a finishing pitch was a falling splitter.

I shook my head. If I squeeze the baseball, which is full of rainwater, between my fingers and order it to turn off, it will surely resist.

The finishing pitch that I filtered and filtered out was a changeup on the outside.

A similar sinker sign came out earlier in the same location, but inducing a ground ball in this kind of ground condition doesn’t seem like a good choice.

The grip was quickly changed inside the glove.

The fast center of gravity shift, the fast arm swing, and this special situation full of rainwater were the background that made the drop a little bigger than I thought.

But there was something unexpected,

Clang—!

No matter how much new dirt I brought, the ground condition was still terrible.

“Two two!”

“Relay! Second!”

I dreamed of a changeup that would run away from the outside to the outside, but the rushing that started from the subtly twisted ankle resulted in a mistake that was concentrated in the middle.

Seeing him pull the mistake to the right center without missing it even in a bad count, so that the title of 4th batter wouldn’t cry, I gritted my teeth.

It was fortunate that he didn’t go to 2nd base thanks to Seonghyun’s quick relay.

“Aish, damn it.”

I dug the ground with the toe of my shoe for no reason. The red turf toe spreading from my big toe scooped up a handful of mud and threw it outside.

In the meantime, I was also upset for no reason that I had raised the side of the mound so that it wouldn’t interfere with the pitch.

A situation where I’m pitching with a slow runner on 1st base. A mediocre 5th batter at the plate.

I hate the existence of rain at times like this.

Even if I induce a ground ball because I want to get a double play, it makes me fear that an even worse result will come out.

Should I make him fly?

Juho wouldn’t have thought of this, so I moved first.

I leaned my body forward slightly and touched the lower three fingers on my shoulder and the brim of my hat.

The glove, the left chest, was in the middle transit point. The sign sent with complexity was soon exchanged for one little finger and returned.

A high fastball. Make it touch the zone.

Fwack!

“High ball—”

Damn it.

I keep slipping. I continue the next pitch without hiding my irritation. I quickly check the runner and grab the slider grip.

“Strike—”

On rainy days, I try not to throw balls that change a lot or require special hand techniques as much as possible.

Especially splitters or forkballs.

It has to slip between my fingers, but it doesn’t slip out because of the moisture.

I also try to avoid curves if possible. Throwing a pitch that requires maximum sensitivity in a situation where the ground condition is terrible is suicide.

Then what’s left is the slider, sinker, changeup, and,

Ttik!

“My! My!!”

Fastball.

Rain is terrible, but it feels pretty good to throw a fastball that sticks to my fingertips properly because of the moisture.

The fastball I threw once again succeeded in deriving the desired result for now.

The fastball formed on the moderately high inside of the zone hit the neck of the bat and drew a moderately high trajectory.

It floated to the position that was easiest for me to catch. A parabola that returns accurately to the mound. I stretched out my glove, blocking the rain pouring down on the brim of my hat.

Just in case, I drew an extension line with my right hand on the edge of the brim of my hat.

Squinting my eyes a lot was a big help in preventing debris that was trying to ricochet and penetrate my eyeballs.

Tick!

I said it helped, I didn’t say I caught it.

Because of the raindrops that hit between my cleverly narrowed eyelids, it hit the side of my glove and bounced off.

“1st base!!”

Still, the only good thing about rain is that the moment the ball meets the ground, the speed and bounce converge to almost 0.

Thanks to the fact that it fell at my feet and rolled in the mud, or thanks to it, the ball stopped in a place that was easy to reach quickly.

Even though I unconsciously took a motion to throw to 2nd base, I immediately threw the ball to 1st base after seeing Seongmun pointing to 1st base with his glove.

“Out!”

Kiseong, who caught the ball, ran to Oh Youngbin, who was taking an ambiguous lead because of the ambiguous fly ball.

The runner who recognized the situation also ran to 2nd base, but the speed difference between the runner who had to be careful while checking the position of the fielder and the fielder who only had to tag the runner could not be overcome.

“Out—”

Kiseong tagged Oh Youngbin’s back and fortunately took two outs.

After that, the opposing team’s coach immediately ran out. He’s appealing that it’s an intentional drop, but that’s not going to work.

The umpire reproduced the scene where I put my right hand on the brim of my hat to block the rain and persuaded the opposing team’s coach.

That’s just because I couldn’t catch it, I missed it because the rain was heavy, it’s not an infield fly, so there’s nothing I can do. He must have said things like that.

Next up was Kim Myungjun.

He’s a batter who often hits huge balls befitting his huge physique, but in this situation where agility is much more required than other stats, he’s just an ordinary batter.

“Strike—”

Now that various factors have been offset, I caught the count with a sinker for now. The increasingly strong rain made it difficult to even look at Juho’s right hand.

My foot slipped once more, and the slider flew to an absurd place, resulting in one ball, and the slider I threw once more with concentration flew well, but it slipped slightly, resulting in another ball.

Clang—

And the changeup I threw sent it back to their team’s dugout, surprising the team members. The finishing pitch is um… let’s throw the one that scratches the best.

Once again, a sign was sent from my side. A high fastball, but make it touch the zone.

The baseball feels heavier than usual because of the moisture, but because the surface is covered with moisture, it sticks to my fingertips properly, until the end.

Bang!

“Swing, out.”

The long, long top of the 8th inning was over. As I took off my hat to shake off the wet hair and headed to the dugout,

Pat-pat… pat……

The rain stopped.

“Ah…….”

Ting—!

[Underwater Battle]

– Overcome the heavy rain and pitch a scoreless inning. (1/1)

– Reward ― Slider +2

Control ― Top

Power ― Medium

Stamina ― Medium

Four-seam ― 67

Curve ― 55

Sla ― 45+2=47

Spl ― 47

Chain ― 51

Sinker ― 51

Traits

Enlightenment ― I’m okay with any hit or situation.

Discomfort ― Makes the opposing batter feel uncomfortable when they look at the pitcher on the plate.

Comfort ― Those who look at me feel comfortable.

Even when I turned my head to the sky, there were no more raindrops hitting or touching my face.

The series of white words in the pitch-black night sky was confusing my mind.

“Hyung, you worked hard.”

“Oh… yeah.”

Haha…….

The strong sense of emptiness I felt somewhere didn’t allow me to easily return home even after the inning was over.